Kim Jong-un

For Kim Jong-un, going through his travel brochures, counting his dongs or rupees and whatever they’re using this week in the Pyongyang markets, and dreaming of his summit with Donald Trump, just getting there will be no fun at all. Rocket Man doesn’t like to fly, because he doesn’t have much to fly in. A former CIA analyst tells The New York Times that “we know he has a plane, but it’s an old plane, and no one really knows if it works.”

Standing up for what you believe in takes a lot of guts. Whether it’s Shania Twain, a person answering a public opinion survey or a United States senator there’s always going to be someone criticizing you. How you defend your values reveals a lot about your character and judgement.

The president can’t be blamed for Congress’s inability to push through conservative agenda items. Trump is far from perfect but he’s tried every means possible to get things moving. Instead of plotting a possible 2020 challenger, his GOP enemies should be putting more pressure on Capitol Hill.

Democrats tried the “first woman president” thing with Hillary Clinton in 2016. Being female simply isn’t enough of a basis to stake a candidacy. Americans might not be the most sophisticated political actors in the world, but they aren’t stupid…at least half of them, anyway.

The left’s agenda will not allow radical groups to take a seat in order to make the Democrats they support look more mainstream ahead of this year’s midterm elections. When it comes to making the GOP and Trump look “normal” there’s nothing better than a gathering of leftists with bullhorns.

Not everything is as it appears on the surface. James Comey’s backhanded slap at the GOP was actually a positive thing for Republicans, just as a change in leadership in the House is entirely necessary to ensure good legislation sees the light of day. For conservatives, change couldn’t come fast enough.

Donald Trump came to Washington in order to shake the system to its core and wrest power away from the swamp dwellers who’d polluted the water for decades. As the recent Comey episode proves, the work is just beginning – there’s an awful lot of slime to scrape off the sidewalks.

Perhaps the money will flow in this year, perhaps it won’t. The GOP will survive regardless – but will the conservative cause? It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that as long as Republicans do what they’re supposed to do that good things will follow, including coffers full of campaign cash.

When Paul Ryan officially leaves Congress people will remember him as the humble Wisconsin boy who always put on a positive face and did his best in the House. Conservatives will remember all the things Ryan didn’t do – and the next speaker had better be prepared to make things right.

The days and weeks ahead will reveal the damage inflicted from Friday night’s strike in Syria. With military satellites, the on-the-ground destruction will be relatively easy to assess; far more uncertain is the fallout from Trump’s failing to keep his promises to stay out of the Middle East.

Republicans have a number of things to run on this year if they’d only use them. The Supreme Court vacancy (which led to Justice Neil Gorsuch) was a good reason to vote Trump in 2016; confirming more of Trump’s appointments will be strong incentive to vote for GOP senators in 2018, too.

Few would carry a grudge against someone who’s taking a position against the status quo and offers good arguments to back it up. The DC political establishment abhors anything that might upset their power structure – and conservatives have a good chance to do just that in 2018.

The dumbing down of American culture shows up at the worst times and places – in school shootings, in the workplace and sometimes even in political movements like #NeverTrump. Eventually the truth will win out in these circumstances -- but by then will it be too late for us?

The media war against conservatives and President Trump will continue; they’ll make offensive jokes at the White House Correspondents Dinner and their colleagues will report on the elites’ hilarity. The rest of American will tune them out – that is, if they even bother tuning in at all.

With seven months to go until the midterm elections Republicans’ backs aren’t exactly against the wall – yet -- but it would still behoove them to act as if they were. Bold action will not only ensure the GOP agenda makes headway this year but will also give them something to smile about.

It goes without saying liberals’ various overreaches of late almost present the appearance of contemplating suicide. If trends continue the left may very well accomplish that result whether they seek it or not. Napoleon was right – we shouldn’t interfere when an enemy is destroying himself.

A lot of people say Tiger Woods is a changed man. For those of us who’ve followed his career from the beginning we can only hope so. In a few days we’ll know whether Woods pulled off the most improbable of all comebacks and won the Masters – but in many of our hearts he’ll always be that same oddball guy, full of inexplicable contradictions.

Americans realize Congress is broken and no fix is easily detectable on the horizon. As the midterm elections approach voters will pay more attention to the state of the country and which party might possibly make things better. Republicans are in better shape than the pundits think.

#NeverTrump’s influence is waning in today’s American politics. The last remaining conservative and Republican anti-Trump holdouts would be well served to take Rich Lowry’s advice – keep a close eye on Trump but don’t be afraid to support the man who’s doing a lot of good things.

It's a sad fact of life that California has become the running joke of the United States. One wishes the Golden State’s leaders could just stare into a mirror and recognize exactly how stupid they look to the rest of the country. But then again, if they did that, they just might see a crazy person.